Tron: Legacy (2010)

An average story about a son reuniting with his long lost father set in one of the most impressive worlds I’ve seen on the big screen since, well, last year (I mean come on, Avatar was fantastic).  Eye-popping spectacle like this is well-worth seeing on the big screen.  The neon highlights and empty blacks took my breath away.  It’s especially exciting to see how they paid tribute to the original film while expanding upon this new version of the Grid.  If only the story wasn’t so flat.  It needed more variety or perhaps another subplot to pump the story up a few notches.  I’m not declaring it bad or boring; it just needed another character to add drama to the mix.  Maybe someone else helping the Flynns besides Quorra, a character that never seemed to become her own.  Was she a love interest for Sam or a sister?   I couldn't tell.   And while Jeff Bridges was brilliant playing Flynn (seamlessly based on the original character, I might add) I would have liked it if he had found a way to play Clu somewhat better. Not that the writers gave him much; come on guys, a speech before an army, did you not learn from Morpheus' horrible speech in the second Matrix film?  But to be fair the writing is pretty good, if a little stuffed with back story.  It starts off with a sort of "how did we get here montage", where we learn that Father Flynn made a technology empire and then disappeared, leaving his son, Sam, orphaned and wondering what happened to his father.  All of which was unnecessary since this information is implied in scenes to come.  Later the older Flynn tells us (yes, tells instead of shows) how he created the Grid with Tron and Clu and how he was on the verge of a great breakthrough.  All great information but none of it really that dramatic.  I'm not saying it could have been cut but I wish the filmmaker and screenwriters (television writers, by the way; isn't that telling?) would have come up with a more active approach.   Besides these story flaws, it's a good time at the movies.  At the end, even as I sat there underwhelmed by the story, I craved another chapter to this world.   If there is to be a Tron 3, I welcome it, but I do hope the writers learn from their mistakes a second time around.   Grade: B+.